A/N: Okay, here is the second chapter. It might be kind of boring, but I am like, really obsessed with organization (well, not like in my locker or my room or anything). I have to UNDERSTAND things, so hopefully reading this chapter will help you UNDERSTAND the rest of the story a little better.
Aragorn couldn't believe it. "I knew you were up to something! I can't believe you're making us do this! I am King of Gondor! I have to go defend my country! I can't stay here and babysit for you!"
"Gandalf, I wish we had gone to the undying lands!" Frodo cried.
"I do too!" Gandalf shouted over the noise of everyone yelling at Elrond.
"I thought this was a mission!" shouted Pippin.
"It is a mission." Replied Elrond calmly. "It is a mission to help keep the children out of the way. And you all signed the paper, so you have to do it, or I will put a spell on you. In fact, if any of you speak right now without me telling you to, I will put a spell on you."
The fellowship sat back down, looking angrily at Elrond.
"Now, I will continue. The young elves will be sorted into four groups; babies, one-year-olds, two-year-olds, and three-year-olds. The three-year-old group will also contain some of the less intelligent four-year-olds that were not allowed into the learning facility...school. Two of you will be assigned to each group. There will be somewhere between thirty five and fifty children in each group-"
"What?"
"Speaking out of turn, are we Gandalf?" Elrond said in a menacing voice. "I'll let it go this time, but next time I won't be so kind." He turned to Aragorn. "Now, since you are the King of Gondor, I will let you have first choice. Which age group would you like?"
Aragorn thought for a moment. The babies and one-year-olds would probably cry, and the two-year-olds might not be able to talk very well. Aragorn hated it when he couldn't understand someone else. That was why he had learned so many different languages and given himself a different name in each. "The three-year-olds." He said bitterly.
"Wonderful!" said Elrond. "Who else wants to take care of the three-year-olds?"
Every single member of the fellowship, except Gimli, raised their hands.
Elrond laughed. "Let me warn you, they aren't as easy to take care of as you may think. And there are more three-year-olds than any other age."
All the hands went down.
"No one wants to help Aragorn?"
"I'm not really sure I want the three-year-olds anymore, Lord Elrond..." Aragorn said, looking rather sick.
"Too late!" cried Elrond. "Now, is there no one else who can handle the three-year-olds?"
For a moment everything was silent. Then, finally, Frodo spoke up, "I will take the three-year-olds with Aragorn."
Sam leapt up. "I'm going with you, Mr. Frodo!"
"Sorry," said Elrond. "Only two teachers per age group!"
"But...but-"
"No buts, Samwise. You can have the two-year-olds." Elrond wrote Sam's name down on his list next to the two-year-olds. "Now, who wants to help Sam? Legolas?"
"I won't teach unless I can share a class with Gimli!" said Legoals.
"Fine, you and Gimli can have the one-year-olds...ha ha ha...have fun! They cry the most!"
"Ha ha ha!" whispered Merry.
"I happen to like babies!" Gimli retorted.
"Now, how about we have Merry teach the two-year-olds with Sam..."
Merry and Sam looked at each other. Could they handle a class of thirty-five two-year-olds? Probably not.
"...and Gandalf and Pippin will take the babies."
Gandalf stood up. "What did you say?" He glared at Elrond. "Did I hear correctly? Am I to be taking care of thirty-five babies with PEREGRIN TOOK?"
"No, Gandalf, you will actually be taking care of forty-one babies with Peregrin Took."
Gandalf was livid. "Now listen to me, Elrond-"
Elrond paid no attention to him. "I believe that concludes our meeting for today. I will meet you here tomorrow at six a.m. You will be meeting your classes, so don't be late!" Elrond swept away, looking incredibly happy.
The fellowship wasn't quite as thrilled as Elrond. In fact, they weren't really thrilled at all. "I can't believe he put me with Gandalf!" Pippin sobbed, as he and Merry walked back to their room. "Gandalf hates me! And FORTY-ONE babies! What am I going to do, Merry?"
Merry couldn't really deny the fact that Pippin was in a bad situation, but he was more worried about himself at the moment. "At least Gandalf knows what to do...he knows everything. I'm with Sam! Neither of us knows anything about children! How in the world did we get ourselves into this?"
Meanwhile, Gandalf and Aragorn were walking back to their rooms and lamenting about their problems. "Peregrin Took, Aragorn, PEREGRIN TOOK! He's likely to be more of a liability than a help to me. Oh, that Elrond is going to pay. HE WILL PAY!"
"Relax Gandalf. At least you don't have fifty three-year-olds."
"I WOULD RATHER HAVE FIFTY THREE-YEAR-OLDS AND FRODO BAGGINS THAN FORTY-ONE BABIES AND PEREGRIN TOOK!!!" Gandalf's face was red, and he was breathing hard. He turned on his heel and walked into his room. "DAMN YOU ELROND!" He slammed the door in Aragorn's face.
"Hey Aragorn!"
Aragorn turned to see Legolas and Gimli walking by.
"Aren't you just so excited?" Gimli shrieked in a girly voice.
"Actually, not really." Aragorn replied.
"Why not?" asked Legolas. "Babies are so cute! Um, I mean...no...hang on...okay, I am thinking MANLY thoughts here."
"I love babies! And I love shopping for baby clothes too!" added Gimli.
"But I feel so bad for Pippin..." Legolas said. "He's with Gandalf. I don't think he'll make it out alive."
"Probably not," said Aragorn "but I have more pressing issues to deal with, like fifty three-year-olds."
"What's wrong with that?" asked Gimli.
"Yeah, we have thirty-eight one-year-olds." Legolas put in.
"You guys have fun." Aragorn sighed. "I'm gonna go catch some sleep."
"Okay! Sleep tight!" Gimli called after him.
Aragorn almost made it to his room before he heard his name called again.
"Aragorn!" Frodo and Sam rushed up to him. "Aragorn, how in the world are we going to take care of fifty kids?" Frodo asked him.
"Does it look like I know?" Aragorn said. "Look, Frodo. I really don't know. I guess we'll just have to take a lot of cookies with us. Maybe that will keep them quiet."
"Hey, that's a good idea!" cried Sam. He pulled a notebook out of his pocket and began writing in it.
"What's that?" asked Aragorn.
"Oh, it's just, well, you see, Mr. Merry and I don't know nothing about kids so I've just been jotting down some suggestions on how to take care of them." He said sheepishly. "Thirty-five two year olds." He murmured to no one in particular.
"Be grateful you don't have the three-year-olds." Frodo said darkly.
"Yeah, I am. I'll see you two tomorrow. Wish me luck!" And he wandered off, still writing in his notebook.
"Well Frodo, try to get some sleep tonight. I have a feeling you're going to need it."
"Yeah," said Frodo "you too."
***The Next Morning, in the Rivendell Meeting Hall/Room/Thing
Elrond greeted everyone bright and early the next morning. "Good morning!" he said cheerfully.
No one replied.
"Alright, it's great to see that you're all so enthusiastic!" He smiled very falsely at them. "Well, on to business, I have provided a building with four large, VERY large, rooms for you to work in. Follow me!"
The fellowship reluctantly followed after Elrond, moaning and groaning. He led them into a huge building with a sign that said "The House of Elrond's Childcare Center" in big pink bubble letters. He held the door open for them to pass through. They entered a long hallway with four doors leading into the rooms, two doors on each side. The first door on the right had a sign taped to it that read "Infants-Newborn to 11 Months, Caregivers: Gandalf the White and Peregrin Took."
"I am certainly glad Peregrin Took wasn't MY caregiver when I was a baby." Gandalf grumled.
"You were a baby?" Aragorn asked.
Elrond paid no attention to him. "I have provided you with everything I think you'll need. The baby room has cribs, toys, and baby swings, as well as plenty of extra diapers and bottles, a refrigerator full of baby food, a microwave, and some strollers in the closet. It also has two rocking chairs, one wizard sized and one hobbit sized to fit your needs. I hope you will find it suitable. Gandalf, Pippin, we'll leave you here to get settled."
Gandalf and Pippin walked into their VERY large room. Pippin looked around him in wonder. "Wow...hey Gandalf, what's the microwave for?"
"To heat up the baby formula!" Gandalf yelled. "Honestly, do you know anything at all?"
Pippin hung his head. Why didn't Gandalf like him? Was it just because he wasn't very smart? Because he couldn't help that. How did Gandalf expect him to know everything about babies? Pippin had grown up in the Shire where he never really messed with babies, and then he went on a quest with the fellowship. He didn't have time to learn about them!
"Let's see," said Gandalf. "I specially requested that the changing table be hobbit sized. I do hope he listened to me!" He looked around, and his gaze fell on the changing table, which was quite wizard sized...in any case, it was much too big for a hobbit. "ELROND!!! I'm going to get you!!!"
"Going to get him?" Pippin asked. "Come on, you're a wizard. Can't you think of a better threat than that?"
"Peregrin Took, you would do very well to keep your mouth SHUT when you're around me!"
"Yes. Yes, sir." Pippin sighed. It was going to be a looooong day.
Meanwhile, as Gandalf and Pippin were getting settled, Elrond was leading everyone else to their classrooms. He took them to the room across the hall from Gandalf and Pippin's. The sign on the door said "One-Year-Olds-12 to 23 Months, Caregivers: Legolas of the Woodland Realm and Gimli, Son of Gloin."
"Gimli and Legolas, this will be your room. Now, I have done something special with this room because it is the one-year-olds, and, as you should know, a 13-month-old can be very different from a 22-month-old. VERY different. So, I have divided this room in half with that lovely wall that you see there."
Everyone peered into the room, and they saw that there was indeed a wall, about two and a half feet high, with a baby gate in the middle. The front part of the room looked much like the baby room, with cribs, swings and lots of big plastic toys. It also had a lovely rocking chair with pictures of pink flowers all over it.
"Ooh! Pretty!" shrieked Gimli. "I want to sit in the rocking chair!"
"No!" said Legolas. "It's my size!"
"Stop it, you two. And Gimli, I had another rocking chair specially made for you. It should be arriving any minute now."
The fellowship (minus Pippin and Gandalf) continued to look at the room. The back half looked very different. It had books and building blocks and A SLIDE.
"Ooh!" breathed Gimli. "I changed my mind. I want to sit on the slide!"
"You'll break the slide." Muttered Aragorn, who was still in a very bad mood.
"Okay," Elrond cut in. "I'll leave Legolas and Gimli here to get situated. You should find everything you need. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask!" Elrond walked off; Sam, Merry, Frodo, and Aragorn followed.
"Well, this should be fun." Said Gimli. He and Legolas stared at each other for a moment.
All of a sudden, Legolas darted around Gimli and leapt onto the rocking chair. "I GOT IT!"
"Darnit." Said Gimli. "Oh well, I get the slide!"
"Who cares about the slide?" said Legolas.
"I do!"
"Fine, whatever. Hey, don't you think maybe you should put your axe away? You know, it might...scare the kids?"
"That's a good idea," said Gimli, "but you have to put up your bow and arrows...and those knife thingies that you twirl around all the time."
"Fine." Legolas walked over to the counter and set his bow and arrows down, as well as his knife thingies. "Hey, look! COOKIES!"
"COOKIES??? I want some!"
"No!" Legolas snatched the cookies away. "They're for the children!"
"Here's some cheerios...yuck." said Gimli.
"Those are for the children too." Said Legolas, taking those away also.
There was a knock on the door. Legolas and Gimli both raced for it, but Legolas got there first. He threw the door open.
"Um...hi." A really fat man in overalls stood out in the hallway. "I'm here to deliver this rocking chair, am I in the right place?"
"Is that my ROCKING CHAIR???" Gimli shrieked.
"Yes." Said Legolas. "Come in." he said to the rocking chair man.
"Put it over there next to the slide." Gimli said eagerly. "Ooh! Mine's prettier than yours, Legolas."
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"I'll be leaving then..." said the rocking chair man.
Back in the hallway, Elrond was showing Sam and Merry their room (2-Year-Olds-24 to 35 months, Caregivers: Samwise Gamgee and Meriadoc Brandybuck). It looked much like the back half of Legolas and Gimli's room, with building blocks, bookshelves, plastic toys, and a slide. "Okay you guys, you know the routine. I have provided you with everything you should need. There are LOTS of cookies and sippie cups in the cabinet, mats to spread out for nap time, and if you need anything, just holler."
"Holler?" said Aragorn.
"Yes, holler. Now, we really are short on time, so let's continue, Frodo and Aragorn."
Merry took a deep breath. "Are you ready, Sam?"
"No, I can't say that I am. But I do have a notebook full of suggestions on what we could do with the kids." He pulled it out of his pocket.
"Oh, that's good." Said Merry. "Maybe I won't die just yet."
Frodo and Aragorn were growing more nervous by the second. Fifty kids. It was going to majorly suck, but Elrond didn't really seem to notice at all. Or if he did, he didn't care. He took a deep breath and said very quickly "Here's your room, it's pretty much the same as Merry and Sam's room, except you have some different toys. There's LOTS of cookies, just like you requested, Aragorn, there's also some apple juice and extra sippie cups, and oh my goodness look at the time I really do need to get going see you later!" and left.
"Well..." said Frodo.
"Well..." said Aragorn.
"We'll just have to wait and see what happens."
A/N: Okay, that was the second chapter. The next chapter should come either tomorrow or the next day, depending on when I can get on the computer. It will be about Gandalf and Pippin...yay!
Aragorn couldn't believe it. "I knew you were up to something! I can't believe you're making us do this! I am King of Gondor! I have to go defend my country! I can't stay here and babysit for you!"
"Gandalf, I wish we had gone to the undying lands!" Frodo cried.
"I do too!" Gandalf shouted over the noise of everyone yelling at Elrond.
"I thought this was a mission!" shouted Pippin.
"It is a mission." Replied Elrond calmly. "It is a mission to help keep the children out of the way. And you all signed the paper, so you have to do it, or I will put a spell on you. In fact, if any of you speak right now without me telling you to, I will put a spell on you."
The fellowship sat back down, looking angrily at Elrond.
"Now, I will continue. The young elves will be sorted into four groups; babies, one-year-olds, two-year-olds, and three-year-olds. The three-year-old group will also contain some of the less intelligent four-year-olds that were not allowed into the learning facility...school. Two of you will be assigned to each group. There will be somewhere between thirty five and fifty children in each group-"
"What?"
"Speaking out of turn, are we Gandalf?" Elrond said in a menacing voice. "I'll let it go this time, but next time I won't be so kind." He turned to Aragorn. "Now, since you are the King of Gondor, I will let you have first choice. Which age group would you like?"
Aragorn thought for a moment. The babies and one-year-olds would probably cry, and the two-year-olds might not be able to talk very well. Aragorn hated it when he couldn't understand someone else. That was why he had learned so many different languages and given himself a different name in each. "The three-year-olds." He said bitterly.
"Wonderful!" said Elrond. "Who else wants to take care of the three-year-olds?"
Every single member of the fellowship, except Gimli, raised their hands.
Elrond laughed. "Let me warn you, they aren't as easy to take care of as you may think. And there are more three-year-olds than any other age."
All the hands went down.
"No one wants to help Aragorn?"
"I'm not really sure I want the three-year-olds anymore, Lord Elrond..." Aragorn said, looking rather sick.
"Too late!" cried Elrond. "Now, is there no one else who can handle the three-year-olds?"
For a moment everything was silent. Then, finally, Frodo spoke up, "I will take the three-year-olds with Aragorn."
Sam leapt up. "I'm going with you, Mr. Frodo!"
"Sorry," said Elrond. "Only two teachers per age group!"
"But...but-"
"No buts, Samwise. You can have the two-year-olds." Elrond wrote Sam's name down on his list next to the two-year-olds. "Now, who wants to help Sam? Legolas?"
"I won't teach unless I can share a class with Gimli!" said Legoals.
"Fine, you and Gimli can have the one-year-olds...ha ha ha...have fun! They cry the most!"
"Ha ha ha!" whispered Merry.
"I happen to like babies!" Gimli retorted.
"Now, how about we have Merry teach the two-year-olds with Sam..."
Merry and Sam looked at each other. Could they handle a class of thirty-five two-year-olds? Probably not.
"...and Gandalf and Pippin will take the babies."
Gandalf stood up. "What did you say?" He glared at Elrond. "Did I hear correctly? Am I to be taking care of thirty-five babies with PEREGRIN TOOK?"
"No, Gandalf, you will actually be taking care of forty-one babies with Peregrin Took."
Gandalf was livid. "Now listen to me, Elrond-"
Elrond paid no attention to him. "I believe that concludes our meeting for today. I will meet you here tomorrow at six a.m. You will be meeting your classes, so don't be late!" Elrond swept away, looking incredibly happy.
The fellowship wasn't quite as thrilled as Elrond. In fact, they weren't really thrilled at all. "I can't believe he put me with Gandalf!" Pippin sobbed, as he and Merry walked back to their room. "Gandalf hates me! And FORTY-ONE babies! What am I going to do, Merry?"
Merry couldn't really deny the fact that Pippin was in a bad situation, but he was more worried about himself at the moment. "At least Gandalf knows what to do...he knows everything. I'm with Sam! Neither of us knows anything about children! How in the world did we get ourselves into this?"
Meanwhile, Gandalf and Aragorn were walking back to their rooms and lamenting about their problems. "Peregrin Took, Aragorn, PEREGRIN TOOK! He's likely to be more of a liability than a help to me. Oh, that Elrond is going to pay. HE WILL PAY!"
"Relax Gandalf. At least you don't have fifty three-year-olds."
"I WOULD RATHER HAVE FIFTY THREE-YEAR-OLDS AND FRODO BAGGINS THAN FORTY-ONE BABIES AND PEREGRIN TOOK!!!" Gandalf's face was red, and he was breathing hard. He turned on his heel and walked into his room. "DAMN YOU ELROND!" He slammed the door in Aragorn's face.
"Hey Aragorn!"
Aragorn turned to see Legolas and Gimli walking by.
"Aren't you just so excited?" Gimli shrieked in a girly voice.
"Actually, not really." Aragorn replied.
"Why not?" asked Legolas. "Babies are so cute! Um, I mean...no...hang on...okay, I am thinking MANLY thoughts here."
"I love babies! And I love shopping for baby clothes too!" added Gimli.
"But I feel so bad for Pippin..." Legolas said. "He's with Gandalf. I don't think he'll make it out alive."
"Probably not," said Aragorn "but I have more pressing issues to deal with, like fifty three-year-olds."
"What's wrong with that?" asked Gimli.
"Yeah, we have thirty-eight one-year-olds." Legolas put in.
"You guys have fun." Aragorn sighed. "I'm gonna go catch some sleep."
"Okay! Sleep tight!" Gimli called after him.
Aragorn almost made it to his room before he heard his name called again.
"Aragorn!" Frodo and Sam rushed up to him. "Aragorn, how in the world are we going to take care of fifty kids?" Frodo asked him.
"Does it look like I know?" Aragorn said. "Look, Frodo. I really don't know. I guess we'll just have to take a lot of cookies with us. Maybe that will keep them quiet."
"Hey, that's a good idea!" cried Sam. He pulled a notebook out of his pocket and began writing in it.
"What's that?" asked Aragorn.
"Oh, it's just, well, you see, Mr. Merry and I don't know nothing about kids so I've just been jotting down some suggestions on how to take care of them." He said sheepishly. "Thirty-five two year olds." He murmured to no one in particular.
"Be grateful you don't have the three-year-olds." Frodo said darkly.
"Yeah, I am. I'll see you two tomorrow. Wish me luck!" And he wandered off, still writing in his notebook.
"Well Frodo, try to get some sleep tonight. I have a feeling you're going to need it."
"Yeah," said Frodo "you too."
***The Next Morning, in the Rivendell Meeting Hall/Room/Thing
Elrond greeted everyone bright and early the next morning. "Good morning!" he said cheerfully.
No one replied.
"Alright, it's great to see that you're all so enthusiastic!" He smiled very falsely at them. "Well, on to business, I have provided a building with four large, VERY large, rooms for you to work in. Follow me!"
The fellowship reluctantly followed after Elrond, moaning and groaning. He led them into a huge building with a sign that said "The House of Elrond's Childcare Center" in big pink bubble letters. He held the door open for them to pass through. They entered a long hallway with four doors leading into the rooms, two doors on each side. The first door on the right had a sign taped to it that read "Infants-Newborn to 11 Months, Caregivers: Gandalf the White and Peregrin Took."
"I am certainly glad Peregrin Took wasn't MY caregiver when I was a baby." Gandalf grumled.
"You were a baby?" Aragorn asked.
Elrond paid no attention to him. "I have provided you with everything I think you'll need. The baby room has cribs, toys, and baby swings, as well as plenty of extra diapers and bottles, a refrigerator full of baby food, a microwave, and some strollers in the closet. It also has two rocking chairs, one wizard sized and one hobbit sized to fit your needs. I hope you will find it suitable. Gandalf, Pippin, we'll leave you here to get settled."
Gandalf and Pippin walked into their VERY large room. Pippin looked around him in wonder. "Wow...hey Gandalf, what's the microwave for?"
"To heat up the baby formula!" Gandalf yelled. "Honestly, do you know anything at all?"
Pippin hung his head. Why didn't Gandalf like him? Was it just because he wasn't very smart? Because he couldn't help that. How did Gandalf expect him to know everything about babies? Pippin had grown up in the Shire where he never really messed with babies, and then he went on a quest with the fellowship. He didn't have time to learn about them!
"Let's see," said Gandalf. "I specially requested that the changing table be hobbit sized. I do hope he listened to me!" He looked around, and his gaze fell on the changing table, which was quite wizard sized...in any case, it was much too big for a hobbit. "ELROND!!! I'm going to get you!!!"
"Going to get him?" Pippin asked. "Come on, you're a wizard. Can't you think of a better threat than that?"
"Peregrin Took, you would do very well to keep your mouth SHUT when you're around me!"
"Yes. Yes, sir." Pippin sighed. It was going to be a looooong day.
Meanwhile, as Gandalf and Pippin were getting settled, Elrond was leading everyone else to their classrooms. He took them to the room across the hall from Gandalf and Pippin's. The sign on the door said "One-Year-Olds-12 to 23 Months, Caregivers: Legolas of the Woodland Realm and Gimli, Son of Gloin."
"Gimli and Legolas, this will be your room. Now, I have done something special with this room because it is the one-year-olds, and, as you should know, a 13-month-old can be very different from a 22-month-old. VERY different. So, I have divided this room in half with that lovely wall that you see there."
Everyone peered into the room, and they saw that there was indeed a wall, about two and a half feet high, with a baby gate in the middle. The front part of the room looked much like the baby room, with cribs, swings and lots of big plastic toys. It also had a lovely rocking chair with pictures of pink flowers all over it.
"Ooh! Pretty!" shrieked Gimli. "I want to sit in the rocking chair!"
"No!" said Legolas. "It's my size!"
"Stop it, you two. And Gimli, I had another rocking chair specially made for you. It should be arriving any minute now."
The fellowship (minus Pippin and Gandalf) continued to look at the room. The back half looked very different. It had books and building blocks and A SLIDE.
"Ooh!" breathed Gimli. "I changed my mind. I want to sit on the slide!"
"You'll break the slide." Muttered Aragorn, who was still in a very bad mood.
"Okay," Elrond cut in. "I'll leave Legolas and Gimli here to get situated. You should find everything you need. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask!" Elrond walked off; Sam, Merry, Frodo, and Aragorn followed.
"Well, this should be fun." Said Gimli. He and Legolas stared at each other for a moment.
All of a sudden, Legolas darted around Gimli and leapt onto the rocking chair. "I GOT IT!"
"Darnit." Said Gimli. "Oh well, I get the slide!"
"Who cares about the slide?" said Legolas.
"I do!"
"Fine, whatever. Hey, don't you think maybe you should put your axe away? You know, it might...scare the kids?"
"That's a good idea," said Gimli, "but you have to put up your bow and arrows...and those knife thingies that you twirl around all the time."
"Fine." Legolas walked over to the counter and set his bow and arrows down, as well as his knife thingies. "Hey, look! COOKIES!"
"COOKIES??? I want some!"
"No!" Legolas snatched the cookies away. "They're for the children!"
"Here's some cheerios...yuck." said Gimli.
"Those are for the children too." Said Legolas, taking those away also.
There was a knock on the door. Legolas and Gimli both raced for it, but Legolas got there first. He threw the door open.
"Um...hi." A really fat man in overalls stood out in the hallway. "I'm here to deliver this rocking chair, am I in the right place?"
"Is that my ROCKING CHAIR???" Gimli shrieked.
"Yes." Said Legolas. "Come in." he said to the rocking chair man.
"Put it over there next to the slide." Gimli said eagerly. "Ooh! Mine's prettier than yours, Legolas."
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"I'll be leaving then..." said the rocking chair man.
Back in the hallway, Elrond was showing Sam and Merry their room (2-Year-Olds-24 to 35 months, Caregivers: Samwise Gamgee and Meriadoc Brandybuck). It looked much like the back half of Legolas and Gimli's room, with building blocks, bookshelves, plastic toys, and a slide. "Okay you guys, you know the routine. I have provided you with everything you should need. There are LOTS of cookies and sippie cups in the cabinet, mats to spread out for nap time, and if you need anything, just holler."
"Holler?" said Aragorn.
"Yes, holler. Now, we really are short on time, so let's continue, Frodo and Aragorn."
Merry took a deep breath. "Are you ready, Sam?"
"No, I can't say that I am. But I do have a notebook full of suggestions on what we could do with the kids." He pulled it out of his pocket.
"Oh, that's good." Said Merry. "Maybe I won't die just yet."
Frodo and Aragorn were growing more nervous by the second. Fifty kids. It was going to majorly suck, but Elrond didn't really seem to notice at all. Or if he did, he didn't care. He took a deep breath and said very quickly "Here's your room, it's pretty much the same as Merry and Sam's room, except you have some different toys. There's LOTS of cookies, just like you requested, Aragorn, there's also some apple juice and extra sippie cups, and oh my goodness look at the time I really do need to get going see you later!" and left.
"Well..." said Frodo.
"Well..." said Aragorn.
"We'll just have to wait and see what happens."
A/N: Okay, that was the second chapter. The next chapter should come either tomorrow or the next day, depending on when I can get on the computer. It will be about Gandalf and Pippin...yay!